You must have my horse…Though mine allows pulling, to a point. But for 2/3 of his neck I would need to pull about 1/3 of the thickness out to have something reasonable. And then you get a lot of 2" hairs a month or so later… So yes to scissors, and I leave it a bit longish in order to make a passable braiding situation.
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I don’t like the look of the blunt cut that scissors makes ( sorry to those who use them) I have always used old clipper blades and grasping small sections ( like if you were pulling) you use an up/down sawing motion at the length you desire and cut through the hair.
I will use scissors for any stray long hairs, but it gives you that natural look that a pulled mane does. The length you start with doesn’t matter.
My old Morgan did not have a pretty mane. Plain brown, no wave, and it did not compliment his neck. So I shortened it. First I cut it a bit longer than I wanted it and tilted the scissors so that the under layer was slightly shorter. Then I worked on it with a stripping comb or a clipper blade, back combing and tearing the hairs shorter. I finished with a little point cutting with scissors (scissors pointed diagonally toward crest alternating directions). It turned out looking pretty natural and was good for dressage braids. I had found that other methods that cut or pulled hairs at the crest resulted in shorter hairs growing in that were difficult when braiding.
Now my current Morgan has “big hair” so I worry about growing rather than shortening!
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Well I have a Dutch Harness Horse stallion with a double mane! Argggghhhhh!!! So he does show in button braids so I flipped his mane over grabbed my clippers and “half” roaches his mane. Meaning I ran the clippers down the length of his neck about 1/4” wide!! Beautiful much thinner mane that I then shortened with scissors to finish. Voila all one one side and thinned. He HATES pulling. So do I lol
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Cut to a bit longer than you want and then pull or back comb and scissor.
With really long thick manes I have done some pulling, then cut, then finished with scissoring and pulling.
I back comb and scissor my horse’s mane. Does not look blunt or cut and is easily braidable.
So does the mane lay flat? Do the braids? How often do you redo? I’ve thought about this, but I would seriously need to clip 1/2 “, maybe more. His bridle path is almost 2” wide - side to side…
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I have seen the roach the under half of the mane method used on ponies. The manes generally werent flat, but did lay on one side. The biggest difficulty was that you had to clip that section pretty often. Otherwise the hair growing up pushed up the mane and really looked weird. You have to have good clippers and blades and use them on schedule for this to work well.
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I use scissors, but not straight across. I use them at an angle, 55º or so, in little snips. I make a few passes to get it the length I want. So it doesn’t look “cut” or blunt at all. I basically cut half an inch at a 55º all the way down the mane. Usually two passes, then touch up. Voila!
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Sounds easy enough. I guess I haven’t seen one done with scissors that was done that way.
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I have a Haflinger/Welsh cross with an extremely thick and fluffy mane. When I adopted him it was extremely long and prone to catching everything in the paddock or breaking out of braids no matter what band was used. As much as I love the long flowing mane it wasn’t practical for him. He clearly didn’t like me spending tons of time picking sticks, leaves and other debris out of his mane and despite my best efforts at keeping the paddocks clear he always managed to find things to tangle up there.
To get it under control I took my clippers and just trimmed the excess ratty looking bits to a more manageable length. From there I used thinning scissors and a solo comb to get a tidy appearance. Initially I wouldn’t worry about pulling and getting it nice, I would focus on getting length off then the next day focus on cleaning it up. I don’t stress about keeping my manes perfect so long as they’re tidy and maintained.
If my little guy was going to show I would honestly let his mane grow out a bit and do two running braids down his neck (one on each side) as his mane is just that thick. Pictures I’ve seen of him with button braids just look awkward with his head shape and overall build.
UPDATE: Thanks for all the advice everyone. Hubby bought the horse and today I hacked off about a foot of mane, then showed him how to use clipper blades and a solo comb and he shortened it some more. It’s probably down to about 10 inches now; needs another pass, for sure, but it no longer hangs down below her shoulder. 
I’m going to leave it a little longer on this one than I usually do, as she’s a spotted draft and has a very thick neck–I think the traditional length would look odd on her.
Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of ergots that are bigger around than my thumb…
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Why get rid of them? They are natural for her.
Hoof oil will soften them, but I have never heard of anyone removing ergots.
Chestnuts yes. The hoof oil will soften them as well.
I don’t think ergots should be removed. :no:
Her ergots are, as I said, about as thick as my thumb and just about as long. She is going to be a field hunter and we go through all sorts of footing and brush at speed. I think it’s safer to cut them off before they get torn off in the field and cause an injury.
Chestnuts are also natural for horses, why do you find it acceptable to remove them, but not the ergots?
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I judt googled it. It seems it is a done thing. It said it is easier after shampooing. There are different tools used.
When I got my ASB her ergots were as thick as my thumb and over halfway to the ground. I just used hoof oil (hoofflex) on them daily and slowly picked it off layer by later. Eventually I was able to take a rasp and gently exfoliate the excess off. We trail ride a lot and I didn’t want them to cause issues with her on downhills or over obstacles. For all my horses I now just use hoof oil on the chestnuts and ergots once a month and pick any shedding spots off after they have baths. It makes the hair around it a bit greasy but it isn’t the end of the world to me.
I did use a hoof knife on my retired small pony’s ergots when I got him but I’m wary of doing that again in case I slip and accidentally cut skin.
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@ABookworm I would be terrified to use a hoof knife on them. I am thinking about Vaseline (what I use to soften Chestnuts) and a pair of EMT shears. Your reasons on the ASB are the same as mine–worried they will catch on something in the hunt field.
@ecileh If it had been any horse other than the small I wouldn’t have done it. But he’s so bomb proof and chill that I felt comfortable he wouldn’t move. 20+ years of having kids lesson on you and do kid things made him tolerant of everything. :lol:
Keep us updated on how the Vaseline works! I work with a lot of rescue horses and so many of them have giant ergots that I would love to clean up!
My farrier trims my draft horse’s ergots (and chestnuts) for me every few months. Her ergots are long and thick and look awful. He is happy to do it as part of her trim…
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I asked mine if he would do it yesterday when he was doing her feet, but he would not. He said he doesn’t like being under them to do that–which struck me as odd, but whatever.
